Everything you need to know about today’s coverage of Israel and the Mideast. Join the Israel Daily News Stream on Facebook.
Today’s Top Stories
1. Might the Prisoner X affair spread to the UK? According to Der Spiegel, the Mossad recruited two other Israeli-Australian dual nationals, identified as Paul Y. and David Z. What’s the MI6 connection?
The three men were now put under surveillance whenever they went back to Australia. Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence agency also began to take an interest in David Z., who possessed a British passport as well.
2. The Free Syrian Army is threatening to attack Hezbollah inside Lebanon. See Washington Post coverage of the tinderbox. Michael Totten comments:
Hezbollah is scary good at insurgency, but counterinsurgency is emphatically not a skill in its toolbox. That’s one of the many reasons the organization has never tried to conquer the rest of the country. It can’t. It can only push people around from its own corner.
3. Israel credits Qatari cash with calming contention and countering chaos in Gaza. The Jerusalem Post writes:
The Qatari funds are being used to pay for a series of ambitious construction projects and improving the Strip’s infrastructure, including roads and buildings . . .
The terrorist organization is fully aware of the fact that, should it provoke another conflict with Israel, the construction and assistance money will have been a waste.
4. Whose Opinion Matters? A Look at the New York Times: Does the New York Times publish all the opinions that are fit to print?
Israel and the Palestinians
• Jerusalem’s preparing for President Obama’s visit — and the hundreds of foreign journalists arriving to cover. YNet writes:
An initiative by Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat intends to take advantage of the wide coverage to unleash a public relations barrage and to present to them “Jerusalem’s other side.”
• James Zogby has a few bones to pick with David Keyes’ recent take on Palestine’s Democratic Deficit.
• Dublin based journalist Eamon Delaney examines why the Irish are surprisingly active in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and why all hope is not lost.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Ambassador Michael Oren discussed Iron Dome, Syria, and Iran’s nuclear program with NBC News.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
• Tehran is beleaguered by huge rats, some as large as 10 lbs. The government’s fighting them with snipers, says the Times of London. No mention of Mossad tie-ins yet. The snipers are warming up for election protests this summer.
The creatures have grown increasingly resistant to rat poison, so the council is resorting to less conventional means. It has deployed ten sniper teams who go out at night to hunt their prey with rifles equipped with infra-red sights.
• EU Blacklisting of Hezbollah Would Disrupt Financing
• YNet picked up on Arab media reports shedding new light on the assassination of Hezbollah’s uber terrorist, Imad Mugniyah. Caveat: the source newspaper is affiliated with Hezbollah.
• Did Syria really consider assassinating the Vatican’s ambassador to Damascus?
• FYI, British news organizations spurn freelance reporting from Syria
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
